KAMPALA, October 6, 2023 – President Yoweri Museveni yesterday announced government would provide a balance of Shs 9 billion to teachers’ SACCOs subscribing to Walimu SACCOs Union. Museveni made the announcement in Kampala yesterday during the celebrations to mark World Teachers’ Day.
Government teachers’ SACCOs get their monies through the Ministry of Education and Sports, and Mwalimu SACCOs Union, which first received Shs 17bln of the Shs 25bln pledged by Museveni in 2011 to enhance teachers’ welfare.
However, Walimu SACCOs Union has been demanding Shs 9.3bln balance over the years and in a meeting called by the Finance Ministry in Kampala late last month to discuss the matter, Walimu SACCOs Union leaders led by their chairperson, Stephen Nabende, said the money was given to a wrong Uganda Teachers Cooperative Savings Credit Union [UTCSU] chaired by Joan Asiimwe Byaruhanga, a former teacher at Ntare School in Mbarara City.
During the Kampala meeting officials from the Ministry of Finance, Uganda National Teachers’ Union [UNATU] Mwalimu SACCOs Union, and others agreed that they would approach Museveni to see if he can provide the Shs 9.3bln to Walimu SACCOs SACCO.
UTCSU was hastily registered in 2010 with Asiimwe and her daughter Julia Birungi who works at the Microfinance Support Centre [MSC] as an assistant credit officer being the signatories to the entity’s account in DFCU Bank where Shs 9.3bln was deposited and allegedly mismanaged.
The money released in installments of Shs 4.3bln and Shs 5bln in the financial years 2013/ 2014 and 2014/ 2015 was given to UTCSU by Microfinance Support Centre [MSC], a government agency contracted by the Ministry of Education and Sports to manage the teachers’ funds.
However, the Financial Intelligence Authority [FIA] in 2021 detected an unusual withdrawal of cash from UTCSU bank account and acted leading to the arrest of Asiimwe, MSC ED John Peter Mujuni, John Mwebembezi [MSC Head of Finance], Birungi.
The four were charged on August 25, 2021, by the police CID on four offences that included; abuse of office contrary to Sections 11 [1] of the Anti-Corruption Act, 2009 [as amended], causing financial loss contrary to Section 20 [1] of the Anti-Corruption Act, 2009 [as amended], money laundering contrary to Sections, 3 [C] 116 and 136 [a] of the Anti-Money Laundering Act [as amended]. These charges were confirmed by Jane Frances Abodo, the Director of Public Prosecutions [DPP].
However, from criminal session case No. 49 of 202, Asiimwe and Birungi entered plea bargain negotiations with the government of Uganda where they agreed through a Consent Order to transfer Shs 7.09bln to the Bank of Uganda with all the interest that has accrued therefrom, but BoU officials said recently they have never received any money on the account.
In a letter dated November 11, 2020, to the Attorney General, MSC declared they had grown the money received from the Ministry of Education to the tune of Shs 16bln.
However, during a recent meeting in Kampala MSC Executive Director John Peter Mujuni said his agency has no money to give to Walimu SACCOs Union, since they had earlier given it to UTCSU, Walimu SACCOs Union leaders and UNATU says is a sham organisation which has no address.
Walimu SACCOs Union is supervised by UNATU which has about 150, 000 members, although a considerable number is said to die of poverty-related stress each year.
UNATU works to protect and promote the social, economic, and professional interests of teachers to deliver quality education and according to the leaders, if Walimu SACCOs gets all its money from MSC, it will help teachers improve the welfare of their families, but also raise the spirit of teachers as they teach.
During the World Teachers’ Day celebrations, Museveni also said government will give Shs 20bln to SACCOs run by private teachers. The money was promised during Covid-19.
According to Filbert Baguma Bates, the General Secretary of the UNATU, teachers work too much for little pay making them undervalued. He said this has led to an enormous increase in resignations.
He says that teachers are struggling with a number of economic, and personal challenges. These, he adds, have forced them to quit the profession for alternative higher income-generating ventures.
“World Teachers Day is celebrated despite the challenges the teachers go through because it’s an opportunity to mobilise support, create awareness of our issues, and many more. If you forget the teacher, you have forgotten education. No education system is better than the quality of its teachers,” Baguma says.
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